Business Correspondence, Interpersonal Communication, Nonverbal Communication, Listening Feedback - Essay Example

Topic: Summarise five of the subject topics Name: ID no: Unit code and name: Lecturer name: Assignment No: Due Date Lecture 4 Business correspondence Though there has been an increase in use of emails, use of letters still continues in organizations. This is mainly due to its advantages such as official status, being tangible, having a personal touch and a slow delivery. Letters are written depending on the purpose to be fulfilled. There are direct letters and indirect letters. Direct letters gives their primary message in a straight forward manner. This is as opposed to indirect letters which gradually leads to the message. Letters consist of several essential elements. These elements are: address of sender and receiver, date, salutation, body, close and signature. The rest of the details such as attention line and security headings are optional. When naming letters, it’s important to be accurate. This is because it helps the letter to reach the destination also people are very sensitive to their personal details. This is why its advisable to proof read and confirm letters before sending (Eppler & Mengis. 2004). There are several letter formats such as full block, modified block, traditional and simplified. When a letter deliver to the reader what they want, its termed as a good news letter. When drafting this letter, the news should be delivered in a direct manner using and right away. The good news should be put in the first paragraph. When you cannot avail to the reader what they want, the letter written is a bad news letter. The letter should not approach the news directly but should be tactful. Bad news letters should have a neutral opening and a positive close. A persuasive letter is used in persuading the receiver. These letters can be unsolicited or solicited. These letters should have qualities such as interesting, create desire and involves action by writer such as giving toll free number. Emails are used in communicating inside the organization. They can be request, announcement, instruction or warning mails. Emails should always adhere to the general communication principles in an organization (Eppler & Mengis, 2004). Lecture 5 Interpersonal communication; nonverbal communication; listening and feedback Verbal and non verbal languages sometimes contradict or reinforce each other. The extent to which the two languages contradict or reinforce each other is known as congruence. Another channel for non verbal communication is body structure and behavior. Head movements are also used to relay message. The message varies depending on the culture involved. Using the facial expression, most of emotional disposition can be revealed. In some cultures, eye movements can convey message to different peoples (Eppler & Mengis, 2004). Voice variation can convey different meanings to words being spoken by a person. Gestures are movements that are effected using body to express an idea or emotion. Gestures vary depending on the location and context. In some cultures, bowing represent respect. This is part of posture that can convey message though depending on the culture where it is being used. When communicating, hands motion sometimes acts as part of relying message (Goldsborough, 2009). Touching as a nonverbal mean of relying message varies from one culture to another. Some cultures encourage high contact while others require low contact. Different messages can be passed out through touching. Clothing and adornments are also a nonverbal part of communication. They can pass message such as status or dominance by the person wearing them. For communication to be smooth boundaries should be respected. It’s also important to remember that the environment where communication is effected determines its success (Eppler & Mengis, 2004). The process of hearing is an involuntary one while listening is a deliberate process. Listening plays a vital role in any organization. It helps one to get the whole idea and learn new things. In listening, truth is discovered and helps in solving problems. Effective listening is hampered by day dreaming, rehearsing and distractions among others, for effective listening, concentration is required. Questioning can be sued for effective listening to help in understanding. In responding to people questioning, feedback is used as an advice support or critique. Also in communication Johari window is used to help in getting to know the relationship between members of a group. This helps in gauging their relationship and enhancing it (Eppler & Mengis, 2004). Lecture 6 Intercultural communication Culture refers to learned behaviors that have developed in a span of time in a community. Culture is taken to be a constantly changing and have a shared view among those in it. Apart from the broad definition other definitions include macro culture and micro culture. Macro culture refers to all arts, social institutions and other characteristics of a race, ethnicity or nationality. Micro culture is the predominating and way of living that group of people or organization has in their setting (Goldsborough, 2009). Different cultures differ in their way of communication. To be able to communicate effectively, it’s important to know how to appreciate other peoples’ cultures. This can be achieved through acculturation. Acculturation is a process in which different cultures meet leading to changes. To help in understanding different cultures, four models have been developed. These are Hofstede, House, Hall and Huntington. These models try to explain more on intercultural communication. The Hofstede’s model looks at culture as collective mindsets that make members of one group different from others. This model has limitations due to outdated data, having narrow research and a self report survey. . House offered a more comprehensive research than Hofstede. The House’s GLOBE model had more on management and leadership. The model developed by Hall looks at culture in which the context which the communicated messages carry is similar to the message communicated. Intercultural communication refers to the communication that is effected across different cultures. It is important to understand that intercultural communication can not always solve the problems associated with cultural barriers. In Hofstede model, two approaches suggested for learning different cultures are culture specific and culture general. In china, intercultural communication has been able to be applied and work effectively. China style of business has three different cultures that coexist. These are Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. Other models of intercultural communications are Northern Americans (Hargie, Dickson & Tourish, 2004). Lecture 7 Organizational communication Organizational communication refers to a channel with units that relate to each other during communication. The channels used are of different types. The channels can either be one way, two way or multidirectional. The channels can also be classified as interpersonal or mediated. Among the channels Email has gained a lot of popularity in organizations. The problem is that the channel harbors weakness such as duplication of work and threat from multitasking (Goldsborough, 2009). In organization, there exists several flow of communication. The communication can be vertical, horizontal or downward. In horizontal communication, message is sent between individuals in the same level. Vertical communication involves sending and receiving messages in hierarchy. In down ward communication, message moves from the highest hierarchy to the lowest level. When junior officers want to communicate with those in high levels, upward communication is utilized. Bad news in an organization should not be given out. This may lead to crisis in the organization. In some cases, those communicating bad company news are punished. This is known as punish the messenger ethos (Hargie, Dickson & Tourish, 2004). Network has important role in organizations. It acts as a bridge as connections becomes easier within different groups. Among its other roles includes; gate keeping, liaising and isolating those outside the link (Ellis, 2002). Grapevine falls under informal form of communication in an organization. In many organizations, messages are passed on through grapevine. This is due to fact that grapevine is fast and more prevalent in organizations. As the organization expands, use of grapevine increases in same measures. To reduce it, levels of participation in decision making should be increased. Openness should also be encouraged and censorship avoided in the organization (Hargie, Dickson & Tourish, 2004). Organizational culture is a pattern of shared assumptions and beliefs. Through organizational culture; the members are able to learn appreciate and share with new members. The culture is evident in the way managers communicate, way of encouraging creativeness, and the set rules and regulations. The culture should be reinforced through communication by stories blogs and even newspapers (Hargie, Dickson & Tourish, 2004). Lecture 8 Communicating in groups Working as a team has a lot of advantages. The combined effort makes it possible to deal with a lot of information and a deep research can be done. In a group, it’s easier to be motivated and also collective reasoning can be achieved. In most cases, group work lead to synergy where output is more than sum total inputs of members efforts. The main problem arises from loafing. In group, distinctive roles are played. The roles may be task related, socio-emotional or destructive. Positive norms such as following rules and regulations and being punctual should be encouraged. Norms such as practical jokes should be prohibited as they reduce workers output. Norms helps in preserving the group and self esteem (Smart and Carol, 2000). In any team, group think occurs regularly. This process is characterized by antecedents, concurrence and decision making defects. To reduce group think, the members should seek alternatives, make contingency reports and remove physical isolation. Group thinking involves four stages, these stages are; forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. In forming the members identify the task and try to know each other. They also try to exercise group independence. Storming stage involves wrangles within the group on issues such as leadership and conflicting goals. When the group reaches the stage of norming, norms start developing. This is accompanied with cohesion and good contribution among the members. Though these are processes in group development, it’s important to know that not all groups follow these stages. This is because groups are immortal and may move away during different stages. In some groups, Storming may fail to occur at all (Smart and Carol, 2000). In grouping, a virtual work group can exist. This is a team in which the members are located in different localities. Virtual groups require a communication channel that is reliable and comfortable. Their diversities should also be taken into account since they come from different locations. References Ellis, R 2002, Communication Skills: Stepladders to success for the Professional, Intellect Books, Bristol. Eppler, M & Mengis, H 2004, ‘The concept of information overload: A review of literature from organization science, accounting, marketing, MIS, and related disciplines’, The Information Society, 20(3), p. 325-344. Goldsborough, R 2009, ‘Battling information overload in the information age’, Tech Directions, April 2009, 68(9): p.13. Hargie, O., Dickson, D. & Tourish, D 2004, Communication Skills for Effective Management, Palgrave MacMillan, Hampshire. Smart, K and Carol B 2000, ‘Communication in Cross-Functional Teams’, Technical Communication Online, 47(1), p. 19-21. Read More