Communication involves the sharing of information between individuals or groups to reach a common understanding. It is the process of exchanging information from a sender to a receiver. Effective communication improves quality, responsiveness, and innovation in organizations through functions like control, motivation, emotional expression, and information sharing. The communication process involves a sender encoding a message, transmitting it through a channel, and a receiver decoding the message, with potential noise or distortions. Organizations use formal downward, upward, and lateral communication channels as well as informal small group networks and the grapevine. Barriers to effective communication include filtering, selective perception, information overload, emotions, language differences, and cross-cultural differences.

1. COMMUNICATION

2. What Is Communication
 The sharing of information between two or more
individuals or groups to reach a common understanding
 The process by which information is exchanged between a
sender and a receiver.

3. Importance of Good Communication
 Improved quality of products and services
• Subordinates communicate problems and solutions
for increasing quality to superiors
 Increased responsiveness to customers
• Empowered workers lower response time to satisfy
customer wants and needs
+ More innovation through communication
• Cross-functional teams communicating effectively
produce higher quality products more efficiently

4. Communication Functions
 Control – Informal and formal control of behavior of
members in a group
 Motivation – job clarity, expectations, feedback
 Emotional expression – groups a source for social
interaction and therefore communication plays a role
for release of emotions
 Information – facilitating decision making by
providing information by transmitting data to identify
and evaluate alternative choices

5. Communication Process
 Sender, encoding - The sender has a thought which he/she wants to
let someone else know. This thought is encoded in the form of a
message.
 Message - The thought thus acquires a body, a shape and a
structure.
 Channel - The message is transmitted using some channel to reach
the receiver; could be formal and informal channels
 Receiver, Decoding - The receiver ‘decodes’ the message to
understand its meaning.
 Noise - The process of decoding may not generate the same
‘thought’ that the sender wanted to transmit. The distortions are the
‘noise’.
 Feedback – Check on how successfully the original intended
message has reached the receiver.

6. Communication Process

7. Communication Types
 Oral– speed and feedback; opportunities for messages
to become distorted
 Written – Usually more carefully done, therefore more
likely to be well thought out, logical and clear
 Non-verbal – body movements, tone and emphasis
given to words, facial expressions, distance between
sender and receiver

8. Communication Channels Used in Organizations
 Formal Communication Channels
 Downward – Communication that flows from one level of a
group to a lower level
• Managers to employees
 Upward – Communication that flows to a higher level of a group
• Employees to manager
 Lateral – Communication among members of the same work
group, or individuals at the same level

9. Communication Channels Used in Organizations
 Informal Communication Channels
 Small Group Networks
• The wheel relies on the leader to act as the central conduit for all the group’s
communication
• The chain rigidly follows the formal chain of command
• The all-channel network permits all group members to actively communicate with each other.
 Grapevine
• 75% of employees hear of matters first through rumors
• Rumors emerge as a response to situations that are important, when there is
ambiguity, under conditions that arouse anxiety

10. Barriers To Effective Communication
 Filtering – purposefully manipulating information so it will be
seen more favorably by the receiver
 Selective perception – Receiver projecting their interests and
expectations into the communication while decoding messages
 Information overload – Individuals having more information than
they can sort out and use
 Emotions – how receiver is ‘feeling’ impacts interpretation of
message
 Language – Same words mean different things to different people

11. CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION
 Language Differences
 Nonverbal Communication Across Cultures
 Etiquette and Politeness Across Cultures
 Social Conventions Across Cultures