COMMUNICATING AT WORK

What’s the big deal?

CHANGES AFFECTING THE WORKPLACE

 Flattened management hierarchies

 Expanded team-based management

 Increasingly diverse workforce

Anjum Nisar Qureshi

Success for YOU in the new global and diverse
workplace requires excellent communication
skills!

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Please comment
on the followings:

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A valuable job
requirement

An essential for
promotion

A help for meeting

personal
responsibilities
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S0000000!

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 What is Communication anyway?

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 How can it help you become a better
worker/employee/manager?

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 WHAT IS COMMUNICATION?

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 Two-way process of reaching mutual understanding, in
which participants not only exchange information

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news, ideas and feelings but also create and
share meaning.

 In business, it is a key function of management– an

organization cannot operate without communication between
levels, departments and employees.

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CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE
COMMUNICATIONS

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Effective communication requires the
message to be:

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Clear and concise

Accurate

Relevant to the needs of the receiver

Timely

Meaningful

Applicable to the situation

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 CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE
COMMUNICATOR

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 An effective verbal  An effective nonverbal
communicator: communicator:

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 Clarifies  Relaxes

 Listens  Opens up

 Encourages empathically  Leans toward the other

person
 Acknowledges
 Establishes eye contact
 Restates/repeats
 Shows appropriate facial
expressions

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 12/8/2019
“Information is

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the lifeblood of
the organization”

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 12/8/2019
“Information is the lifeblood of

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the organization”

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HOW EFFECTIVELY IS THIS TEAM COMMUNICATING?

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CHALLENGE OF COMMUNICATION

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Developing Be

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Preparing
the right enthusiastic
adequately
attitude and capable

Doing an honest job

The image of your organization is
enthusiastically and
an extension of many individual
competently helps both
personalities.
the doer and the receiver

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TELL US HOW EFFECTIVE IS YOUR
COMMUNICATION?

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On a scale of 1 to 10

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LET’S SEE …
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EXERCISE 1:
COMMUNICATION EFFECTIVENESS

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 Imagine the communication situations in your day-
to-day life and your social experience with people.

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 Assess your communication effectiveness in terms
of each pair of descriptions and circle the
appropriate number.

 Please try to be as specific as you can in your

response so that the questionnaire could truly
reflect your communication style.

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I think my communication with people and colleagues:

Increases my credibility 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Decreases my credibility

Is precise 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Is imprecise

Is clear 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Is unclear

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Answers more questions than it raises 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Raises
more questions than it answers
Is effective 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Is ineffective

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Is competent 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Is incompetent

Is productive7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Is unproductive

Gets the results I want 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Does not get the results I want

Is impressive 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Is unimpressive
Creates a positive image of me 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Creates a negative
image of me
Is good 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Is bad

Is skillful 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Is unskillful

Is relaxed 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Is strained
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Is self-rewarding 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Is not self-rewarding
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Does not embarrass me 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Does embarrass me
COMMUNICATION
EFFECTIVENESS EXERCISE 1

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 Score

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 Total marks: 105

 If your marks are 60 or below, please make

serious efforts to improve communication skills

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The interactive two-way process of
interpersonal communication.

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Internal stimuli Internal stimuli

External stimuli External stimuli

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RECEIVER RESPONSIBILITIES

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 A plumber wrote to the National Bureau of Standards
to tell them hydrochloric acid is good for cleaning out
clogged drains.

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 A technical specialist wrote back: the efficacy of
hydrochloric acid is indisputable, but the corrosive
residue is incompatible with metallic permanence.

 We cannot assume responsibility for the production of

toxic and noxious residue with hydrochloric acid, and
suggest you use an alternative procedure.

 Finally, Manager wrote: Don’t use hydrochloric acid.

It eats the hell out of pipes.

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MESSAGE PROBLEMS

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Carry different concepts

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Have various definitions

Includes body language

• This implies that as sender or receiver,

we have certain responsibilities……

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SENDER RESPONSIBILITIES

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Determine the purpose of the message

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Analyze the point of view of the receiver

Choose the medium to get the message across (Symbol)

Check whether ideas are structured logically.

Avoid being ambiguous

Check for feedback.

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RECEIVER RESPONSIBILITIES

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Analyze the sender’s background and values to comprehend
the message

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Interpret message correctly

Be attentive to message.

Fully comprehend message. Ask explanations if necessary.

Give proper feedback

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COMMUNICATION BARRIERS

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 A " communication barrier" is anything that
interferes with the transfer of intended

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information from a sender to a receiver.

 This can include anything from static on a radio,

preventing the listener from hearing the program, to a
third party interfering in a conversation between two
people.

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BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE
COMMUNICATION

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 Perception (awareness/view )of reality:

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 The world of reality is complex and continually changing.

 Our sensory perceptions are limited and each person has a

unique mind filter.

 Physical limitation:

 Perception of reality is limited by our five senses.

 We perceive reality in different ways.

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WHAT DO YOU SEE?

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 12/8/2019
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N. Qureshi
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WHAT’S DO YOU SEE?

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 A father and his son were driving to work
one morning when suddenly they had a
terrible car crash. The father was killed
instantly and the son was badly hurt.

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An ambulance rushed the son to a hospital. In the
admitting room, the nurse said, “we had got to take
him straight into surgery or he might die.”

They rushed him down the hall to surgery. The

Surgeon walked in, saw the boy, and said, “I
can’t operate on him. He’s My Son”

How Could this Be?

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 BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE
COMMUNICATION

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 Influences of Attitudes and Opinions:

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 Closed mind: The closed minded person is the most
difficult person to deal with.

 This person has limited or inadequate information about a

subject but refuses to consider any new information.

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BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE
COMMUNICATION

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 Influences of Attitudes and Opinions:

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 Sender’s credibility:
People usually react according to their attitude toward
the source of information than to the information.

 Biasness in credibility: People tend to give

more credibility to the people they associate
themselves with or like them

 Anger, Fear, Worry, etc.

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EXERCISE 2: FUZZY MEANINGS

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 OBJECTIVE: to illustrate the wide range of meanings
which are often attached to common words and phrases in

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our/English language.

 PROCEDURE: Look at the list of commonly used words

and phrases like the ones on the following slide that
characterize different degrees or frequencies of events and
tell us what they mean to you…………..

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 FUZZY MEANINGS
a. Often

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b. Always
c. Sometimes
d. Never

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e. Usually
f. Most of the time
g. Occasionally
h. Seldom
i. A lot
j. Almost please specify a number from 0 to
100 that, best indicates the amount
k. Rarely (percentage) of time that each
l. Frequently word conveys.
m. Quite often

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FUZZY MEANINGS
Often On regular basis 80
Always Ceaselessly 100
Sometimes Once in a while 15
Never Not at all 0
Usually More often than not 80
Most of the time More often than not 80
Occasionally Seldom 30
Seldom Hardly ever 5
A lot Plenty 90
Almost Always Nearly every time 99
Rarely Once in a blue moon 5
Frequently Regularly 80
Quite often Fairly regularly 90

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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

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 What does the data tell you?

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 Which terms are the most, and least
subject to widely ranging interpretations?

 Whatare the implications for effective

communications?

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 A SHARED SEMANTIC CODE

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My My Your Your
World of World of World of World of
Experiences Words Words Experiences

My Semantic Code Your Semantic Code

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IDENTIFYING BARRIERS

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 Communication is about overcoming barriers.

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State all the barriers that you
can think of that impact on your
day-to-day communication.

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KINDLY GENERATE A LIST OF
COMMUNICATION BARRIERS …..
Emotions Lack of confidence

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1. 11.

2. Use of jargons 12. Non-verbal gestures

Age difference Sender’s credibility

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3. 13.

4. Biasness in credibility 14. Education level

5. Physical conditions 15. Status difference
6. Cultural difference 16. Beliefs
7. Closed mindedness 17. Lack of skill
8. Fuzzy words 18. Attitude
9. Lack of attention 19. Experience
10. Language barriers 20. Fear
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Overcoming Communication Barriers

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Realize that communication is imperfect.

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Adapt the message to the receiver.

Improve your language and listening skills.

Question your preconceptions (biases/prejudices).

Learn to use feedback well.

Be sensitive to receiver’s point of view.

Listen to UNDERSTAND!

Use direct, simple language, or at least use language appropriate to the receiver.

Use proper channel(s). Learn to use channels well.

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 Continuum of Verbal Communication Media

High Fastest

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Oral Face-to-face Best for ambiguous

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Media talk and non-routine
matters
Telephone
conversation

Addressed
documents
(e.g., letters)
Written
Media
Unaddressed Best for clear
document and routine matters
(e.g., flyer)
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Low Slowest
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LISTEN TO UNDERSTAND

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Before I can walk in

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another person’s shoes,
I must remove my own.

Unknown

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