Communication in

Services
 Communication in Services
1. Internal Communication

2. External Communication

Two Types of Communication

Verbal Communication

Nonverbal Communication
Five Components of Communication Skills

Creative insight is the ability to ask the right

questions.
Sensitivity means paying attention to the needs
of others, listening empathetically, and
monitoring their reactions when you speak.
Vision means being able to imagine the future.
Shared meaning concerns how you engage
others.
Integrity or truthfulness builds trust and
confidence in relationships.
 Reasons for Communication Failure

Inadequate Problems with

Information Channels
Information Overload Incompetent
Poor-Quality Communication
Information Ineffective Goal
Poor Timing Setting
Lack of Feedback or Communication
Follow-Up Anxiety
Cultural Barriers
 Reasons for Communication Failure

Inadequate Information
Managers and employees frequently
complain that they do not receive enough
information to do their jobs effectively.
Upper management provides too little
information when issuing orders.
Information is provided, but it is not the
right type.
 Reasons for Communication Failure

Information Overload
To ensure that people get enough
information, managers often
overcompensate and provide employees
more information than necessary
(especially in situations where they are not
sure what is useful).
 Reasons for Communication Failure

Poor-Quality Information
Information that is readily available to
employees may be of little use because of
its poor quality.
Poor-quality information include outdated,
erroneous, misleading, overemphasized,
and disorganized information
 Reasons for Communication Failure

Poor Timing
Having the right amount of information at
the wrong time does little good.
Similarly, if information arrives too early,
the receivers may set it aside for later use
but then forget that they have it.
Information timing is just as important as
information quantity or quality.
 Reasons for Communication Failure

Lack of Feedback or Follow-Up

Frequently, a sender forwards a message with
the expectation that the receiver will respond
with feedback or a follow-up message.
If the receiver does not recognize that a
response is requested or does not bother to
reply to the message, the sender is forced to
waste time waiting for a following up or sending
a second message asking for feedback.
In either case, time and effort are wasted.
 Reasons for Communication Failure

Problems with Channels

The communication channels that carry
organizational messages include face-to-
face conversation, telephones, e-mail,
public speeches, memos, and letters.
Problems can occur when senders use the
wrong channels to spread information.
Issues that are very personal and sensitive
require face-to-face contact.
 Reasons for Communication Failure

Incompetent Communication
People who do not know how to use the
equipment, experience technical difficulties.
People who attend meetings unprepared waste
others' time.
People with poor listening skills frustrate those
who have to repeat information for them.
Those who make inappropriate grammatical or
vocabulary choices embarrass themselves and
those around them.
 Reasons for Communication Failure

Ineffective Goal Setting

When goals are too low, the communicator
wastes the opportunity to influence, motivate, or
inform the audience effectively.
When goals are too high, the communicator
becomes disappointed or disillusioned because
the audience fails to grasp the message or
simply dismisses what was said.
 Reasons for Communication Failure

Communication Anxiety
When communication situations cause you to
feel nervous, stressed, or apprehensive, the
effectiveness of your efforts is at risk.
Anxiety can hamper the ability to think, talk,
gesture, or even listen.
To minimize your own communication anxiety,
recognize the situations in which you experience
it and try to control your nervousness.
 Reasons for Communication Failure

Cultural Barriers
Biases and prejudices against cultures
other than your own can interfere with
listening to and understanding a message.
An accent may influence your perception
of a coworker or manager.
Sensitivity to diverse cultures and
culturally different ways of communicating
is essential for effective communication.
The Model of Strategic Communication

Situational Knowledge
Goal Setting
Communication Competence
Anxiety Management
The Model of Strategic Communication

Situational Knowledge
Information or facts that you have (or can
collect) about the requirements for
effective communication strategy in a
particular context.
If you know what is appropriate and
expected from you, you greatly improve
your chances of successful
communication.
The Model of Strategic Communication

Goal Setting
Set clear and appropriate goals for each
communication situation.
The Model of Strategic Communication

Communication Competence
When planning communication
strategically, you choose a number of
factors such as type of message, type
of channel, style of delivery that
demonstrate your understanding of the
organization's values and needs.
The Model of Strategic Communication

Anxiety Management
Keep your nervousness at a level that
energizes your communication without
destroying its effectiveness.
 Situational Knowledge
1. Values and Ethics of the Organization
2. Organizational Structure
3. Organizational Learning
4. On-the-Job Training
5. Politics
6. Communication Climate
 Situational Knowledge
Values and Ethics of the Organization
Values are the principles and ideas that people or
organizations strongly believe in and consider
important.
Vision and mission statements are short descriptions of
the purpose of organizations and the directions they try
to take to achieve success.
 Situational Knowledge
Ethical Guideline
Maintain Candor

Keep Messages Accurate

Avoid Deception

Behave Consistently
 Situational Knowledge
Ethical Guideline
Keep Confidences

Ensure Timeliness of Communication

Confront Unethical Behavior

Cultivate Empathic Listening

 Situational Knowledge
Organization Structure
Consists of the actual environment
where the organization is located.
Another way to understand structure is to
look at the hierarchy, or pyramid of
authority, a business maintains.
z Tall Organizations
z Flat Organizations
 Situational Knowledge
Methods for Learning about the Organization
1. Adaptive Learning: by seeking to understand
how goals, policies, procedures, and other
people's actions conform to the dynamics of
the workplace.
2. Understanding organizational values will clarify
your awareness of how and why organizations
make the decisions they do.
3. Developing specific knowledge of the
organization that govern the workplace such
as norms, policies, procedures, politics, and
accepted behaviors.
4. Observing successes and failures and the
reasons
 Situational Knowledge
On-the-Job Training
New workers coming into the organization are expected to
absorb the philosophies and operations of the workplace
during an orientation program.
These information are how the company operates, the
chain of command, the relationships among departments,
and so on.
New employees can also gain knowledge through formal
on-the-job training programs or through informal meetings
with an immediate supervisor, handbooks, or conversations
with coworkers.
During this time employees learn how to deal with the
various relationships in the organization.
It is to your benefit to take advantage of ongoing training
and educational opportunities such as participating in
performance appraisal interviews, seminars and workshops,
and annual business meetings, even when you are no
longer new to the company.
 Situational Knowledge
Politics
All organizations are political systems because they
organize and distribute power, resources, and rewards
in pursuit of specific goals.
The following political strategies are frequently
employed in the workplace:
1. Controlling the agenda of a meeting so that only items of
interest to you appear
2. Building association of friendly people
3. Trading favors
4. Hold on to policies thought desirable by powerful people
5. Being sensitive to dress
6. Associating with the right people
7. Appearing at official functions and meetings
8. Assuming seating positions at group meetings that display
power
 Situational Knowledge
Political Strategies
If you decide to use any of these strategies, consider the
ethical consequences of your communication by posing
questions such as:
Who may be affected by my decision/action?
Will my decision/action violate any commitments to these
parties?
What may be the negative consequences of my action?
Will people be better or worse off in the long run?
Would I be comfortable if my decision became company
policy for others to use?
 Situational Knowledge
Communication Climate
The ideal communication climate has five
dimensions:
1. Supportiveness:

2. Participative Decision Making:

3. Trust, Confidence, and Credibility:

4. Openness and Truthfulness:

5. High Performance Goals:

 Goal Setting
The Goal-Setting Process
1. Identify the Problem

2. Map out a strategy

3. Set a performance goal

 Goal Setting
The Goal-Setting Process
4. Identify resources

5. Recognize contingencies

6. Obtain feedback
 Communication Competence
is the ability to communicate both
appropriately and effectively with other
people.
To ensure effective and appropriate
communication, you must consider four
factors:
1. Messages
2. Internal Communication
3. External Communication
4. Channels
 Communication Competence
Competent Messages
1. Be Specific:

2. Be Accurate:

3. Be Honest:

4. Be Logical:

5. Be Complete:
 Communication Competence
Competent Messages
6. Be Succinct:

7. Include Time Frames:

8. Be Relevant:

9. Be Timely:

10. Ask for Feedback:

 Communication Competence
Internal Communication
is the messages that are sent and received
within the organizational boundaries of the
company such as policy statement from the
president, notices of changes in operating
procedures, and instructions from superiors,
conversations in the hallway and phone calls at
home.
Messages can be exchanged in three directions:
downward, upward, and horizontally. There are
specific reasons for communicating in each
direction, and how you use these strategies
depends on your needs.
 Communication Competence
Downward Communication; from superiors to subordinates.
Five types of downward communication in organizations:
1. Job Instructions: Messages that specify how to conduct
tasks on the job:
2. Job Rationale: Messages that explain why tasks must be
performed and how these tasks relate to other activities
of the organization:
3. Procedures and Practices: Messages that inform
organizational members about responsibilities,
obligations, and privileges of the organization:
4. Feedback: Messages that inform employees of their
performance in the organization:
5. Indoctrination of Goals: Messages that teach employees
the mission, goals, and objectives of the organization:
 Communication Competence
Upward Communication; from subordinates to
superiors.
Four types of upward communication in
organizations:
1. Reflects employee performance and job-related
problems:
2. Reveals information about fellow employees:
3. Communicates attitudes and understanding
about organizational practices and policies:
4. Reports on the activities and tasks associated
with goal accomplishment:
 Communication Competence
Horizontal Communication; exchanged at the
same hierarchical level in organization.
Five types of horizontal communication in
organizations:
1. Facilitates problem solving:
2. Allows information sharing across different
work groups:
3. Promotes task coordination between
departments or teams:
4. Enhances morale:
5. Affords a means for resolving conflicts:
 Communication Competence
External Communication
Are messages that are exchanged between the
organization and its environment such as newsletter,
annual reports, advertising, goodwill speeches, or
notices of corporate sponsorship of nonprofit events.
Listening carefully to customers needs, being receptive
to new ideas or to information from competitors, learning
new techniques from new employees, employing expert
consultants, and searching the Internet are some of the
ways that organizations can listen to their environments
in order to reduce uncertainty.
 Communication Competence
Channels
The media that carry messages to
receivers including conversations,
speeches, interviews, memo, letters,
phone calls, and computer and satellite
networks.
 Communication Competence
Selecting the Proper Channel
Speed:

Accuracy:

Feedback:

Selectivity:
 Communication Competence
Selecting the Proper Channel
Appropriateness:

Cost:

Accountability:

Acceptability:
 Anxiety Management
The ability to control nervousness, fears, stress,
and worries associated with a communication
event.
Everyday situations such as meeting someone
new, presenting ideas for a group project, or
disagreeing with a friend may cause
communication anxiety.
Verbal symptoms of nervousness include a
shaky voice, dry mouth, mispronunciations, and
incoherent sentences or phrases.
Nonverbal symptoms include a change of voice
pitch, fidgeting, and shaking.
 Anxiety Management
Causes of Communication Anxiety
Novelty:

Formality:

Subordinate Status:

Conspicuousness:
 Anxiety Management
Causes of Communication Anxiety
Large groups:

Lack of Skill:

Past Experiences:

Evaluation:
 Anxiety Management
Skills using in managing nervous symptoms.
1. Identify particular weaknesses in your spoken
communication. The best way to do this is to record
yourself by video or audio.
2. Breathe deeply and regularly.
3. Take a quick walk.
4. Slow down your communication and consciously focus
on one idea at a time.
5. Do not be too hard on yourself. If you create unrealistic
scenarios rather than appropriate goals, you are likely
to be anxious when you communicate.
 Anxiety Management
When dealing with difficult customer:
Concentrate on your goals.
Listen open-mindedly to the customers suggestion or
complaint.
Rephrase the statement or problem so that you are sure you
understand it.
If you have questions, dont afraid to ask. The customer will
appreciate your desire to fully understand his or her needs.
Do not interpret complaints or hostility from a customer as a
personal attack. When people become frustrated or angry,
they often blurt out verbal attacks.
Remain calm, and try to empathize with the customers
situation.
Take a few deep breaths, and address the complaint without
resorting to verbal attack.
 Anxiety Management
When you are an interviewee;
z Practice possible responses before the
interview.
z Concentrate on what you have to say.
z Listen carefully to questions.
z Mentally review and summarize your
responses before beginning to speak.