Managerial Communication: Module: 2 Basic Communication Skills:

Listening Skills: Listening in your career

Hey, listen up! Want to really accelerate and sustain your career success? Then you've got to be

a highly effective listener. As a leader, listening skills are more important than your speaking

skills. No question. Here are ten ways which can help you become a better listener:

Listen for ideas and central themes

Search for the speaker's central theme or main points instead of getting lost in, or reacting to, the

supportive details.

Judge content, not delivery

Focus, to your best ability, on what the speaker is saying and try not to be unduly influenced by

their way of saying or delivering the message.

Search for areas of interest

It is extremely easy to tune out from a speaker, so work on sharing his or her enthusiasm. Search

for new ideas or insights which might be beneficial to you.

Don't jump to conclusions

It's easy to assume that you know the rest of a sentence or message after hearing the beginning.

Avoid prejudging a message, so you can receive and evaluate the whole message.

Take notes

By taking notes you sharpen your reception, understanding, and, of course, retention of the information.

Concentrate and resist distraction

External distractions include non-related things you can see or hear which may be impacting your

other senses. Internal distractions occur when your mind wanders into unrelated memories or

shifts its focus to worries, plans, or anticipations. Stay focused.

Use the fast pace of thought to your advantage

Most people can think three or four times faster than they speak. Don't let your quick mind indulge

in all sorts of thoughts unrelated to the conversation. Capitalize on your thinking speed by actively

sensing, interpreting, evaluating, and summarizing the messages being received.

Check your emotions

It has been said that the intellect is the slave to emotions. Be sensitive to things that trigger your

emotions and increase your efforts to focus on a clear reception and understanding of what is

being said.

Exercise your mind

You can turn away and tune out from complicated or difficult subjects, or you can intellectually

wrestle with complex information so that you will have a chance to grow and strengthen your own

intellect.

Work at listening

Be an active listener. Ask questions and seek clarification. Actively share in the speaker's efforts to

improve your level of understanding, whether or not you think you agree.

Benefits of good listening:

Most people want to be heard, but paradoxically very few people are good at listening. Learning to

listen offers benefits both on and off the job.

We‟ve all learned about the importance of polished and professionalspeaking skills, but what about

listening skills? Why do so many people crave the company of a good listener?

Simply put, because most people are terrible at listening. People tend to spend more time

evaluating what the speaker is saying or mentally composing their responses than they do

actually listening.

The fact that so few people are good listeners means that people who do possess this rare skill set

have some advantages.

Here are six:

Benefit of Listening: Respect

When you listen with full attention, you are communicating respect. By offering speakers respect,

you gain theirs.

Benefit of Listening: Airtime

If you listen first, others are more likely to return the favour. There will always be people who,

because of stress, self-absorption or other reasons, will use another person's ear and not return the

favour. Nevertheless, the great majority of individuals understand there should be give and take in

conversation.

Benefit of Listening: Information

Attentive listening helps you learn more about other people. Knowing more about people is

helpful in your professional life as well as personal life. Imagine the benefits when you

understand your boss, colleagues, customers, spouse, friends, and family members better.

Benefit of Listening: Increased Likability

Even people who aren‟t shameless narcissists crave attention. People like people who listen. You

may also find that as you listen to people more, you like them more.

Benefit of Listening: Better Relationships

Listening creates a feeling of goodwill in intimate and professional relationships. Improve your

relationships by listening non-judgmentally to the concerns and problems of others. The more you

listen without judgment, the more freedom speakers have to find their own solutions to problems.

Benefit of Listening: Greater Clarity

Careful listening helps you avoid some of the confusion, misunderstandings and conflicts that are

common in conversations. Careful listening offers an opportunity to circumvent the usual

arguments and conversation traps.

The benefits of listening are interdependent and synergistic – the more you reap one benefit of

good listening, the more listening you will do, and the more the other benefits will start to pile up.

As with most other social skills, to master listening, practice is required. Luckily, the world is full of

people who feel unheard and like no one is paying attention.

To better understand the importance of having greatlistening skills, it is necessary to take into

consideration the multiple advantages that can derive from it, in the workplace and by extension

in the classroom.

1-In the workplace

a) Employee’s perspective For the employee, listening: Expands capacity and knowledge

Great listening skills make an employee more competent and capable, regardless of his position.

The more an individual can get information out of the meetings, the instructions, and reports

provided to him, the more efficient and successful he will at completing his tasks. By listening

effectively, he s able to grasp the t exact information he needs in order to execute his work without

committing regrettable mistakes. Also as a result, listening enriches know-how and knowledge and

helps fulfilling job requirements through progressive learning.

-Intensifies successful conversation Another advantage of effective listening for an employee is

that he becomes a better team player. If employees take the time to listen to each other, to their

suggestions, warnings, advice and informational inputs, it allows them and the departments they

work in to coordinate better, to avoid misunderstandings, and build profitable relationships

among workers. Furthermore, effective listening reduces risks of inter-personal conflicts in a

workplace creates an environment of peace, respect which facilitates enduring success for the

whole enterprise

-Saves time and money Effective listening not only reduces risks of misunderstanding and mistakes

that could be very damaging to the business, it saves time and money for all departments forming a

collaborative workforce. How? … by avoiding the trouble and inconvenience of starting a task or a

project over again, just because the directives given were misunderstood. Employees do not waste

precious time and a specific budget allocated to a specific project, given that time and money are

the two most important resources in business.

b) Leader/boss’s perspective For a manager, listening:

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- Helps detects and solve problems quickly As a leader, an entrepreneur should always be attentive

to what employees have to say, whether it concerns the mechanism, the processes or the project of

a business platform. In the workplace, they are the first ones to spot flaws and come up with

suggestions for amelioration. It is up the manager to grasp and distinguish necessary and useful

information to take the actions needed. In the same perspective, with “good ears”, he‟s able to

make better decisions and to discover more about all aspects of the company.

-Confers respect and trust By listening to staff members , a leader shows great respect and care to

them. As a result, he gains the trust and esteem of workers and achieve referent power as

mentioned by French & in Raven in the article “the bases of social power”. As an appreciated

leader, he gets people to open up and is able to collect useful information about them and their

capabilities.

- Enhances motivation and encouragement Listening gives a leader the power and ability to

encourage and motivate employees . Moreover, a boss who listens stimulates his subordinates in

reaching their maximal potential and at the same time a maximum success. This is way to inspire a

level of commitment in people and the feeling of membership. Sometimes, it only take for a boss to

listen to someone and give feedback showing understanding , for the same person to feel he‟s part

of a group, to find the encourage to overcome some difficulties he might find at work.

- Allows better negotiations terms and resistance overcoming A leader also assumes the role

of a negotiator and often faces problematic situations in negotiations: When the parties are more

focusing on imposing their ideas and getting approval for their suggestions and propositions, they

miss important information such as the underlying demands and offer of each group. The meeting

can continue on for the interlocutors to realize at the end that they did not manage to come to an

agreement. Knowing how to listen effectively keeps negotiators from committing these types of

errors and capture useful information that will be able to use against the opponent and bend his

offer at their benefit.

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c) Customer’s perspective For the relations customers have with the company, listening:

-Strengthen customer relationships and facilitates products and services improvement

By putting in place a system to collect customers‟ feedback on the usage of a product or a service,

the company let the consumers know that their opinion matters and gain their loyalty.

Furthermore, the suggestions, critics and experience are used to ameliorate the products and

services and innovate.

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2-In the classroom A student listening in class ( image

taken from

http://www.providence.edu/oas/shop/note.htm)

a) Student’ perspective Overall, effective listening contribute to the student‟s progress and

the immediate and observable advantages are that it : -Enriches knowledge

-Allows to sort, select and retain essential information

For more information about the subject, click here.

b) Teacher’ perspective As for the teacher who has the responsibility of guiding instructing

students, when he listens he s able to: - Uncover areas of misunderstanding and flaws, in which

students with whom students struggle more

- Improve teaching skills because the instructor learns to what method students respond better.

Problems with ineffective listening:

1. Others will become wary if you don't have the ability to listen

2. Perceived as less intelligent

3. Wasted time

4. Repeating messages is time-consuming

5. Energy can be spent on more important tasks

6. Businesses can lose

is Costlyon behalf of employees' poor (i.e.; flight) Poor Listening

7. Effective listening is a staple of reaching one's goal

8. By concentrating, you avoid repeating a question already asked

9. Listening can lead to opportunities

10. Take ADVANTAGE Poor Listening Limits Your Chances for Success

Pseudolistening: faking attention Don't engage in pseudolistening!

Ineffective listening causes misunderstandings, mistakes and problems, which can be not only

dangerous but also fatal because:

money listening skills

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without listening we take away information from ourselves, that is needed for

an appropriate response to a persons message;

we increase the probability of mistakes by not fully understanding what the individual wants to say;

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we are running the risk of appearing ill-mannered, because we interrupt the conversation;

we are wasting time by returning to restore the information we consciously or

unconsciously didn't hear.

we entangle our interlocutor into unnecessary discussions , by making them answer

our inaccurate or incorrect statements;

we are slowing down the pace of the conversation: it is decreasing because of

distorted information, many misunderstandings, or because of the interlocutors attempts to fight

with the other person's poor listening and similar.

Hearing versus listening

What is hearing?

Hearing is an action in which, just the sound is perceived by the ear, and it requires no or very little

concentration. Very little or no effort is required as your mind is occupied in other thoughts or

perhaps you are engaged in a different task while the other person is sharing his or her thoughts

with you. Words spoken are just heard. This is a passive process.

What is listening?

Listening is an action where you choose to actively concentrate on what you hear and your brain

processes the information into knowledge. You need to put in a lot of effort in terms of attention,

processing, thinking, analysing and concentrating. You do not think about anything else, or get

engaged in any other tasks, but you sit down and listen to what the speaker is saying, word by

word. You look into the feeling and meaning of what is being said. Words spoken are listened to and

processed. This is an active process.

Difference between hearing and listening:

Hearing:

We always hear something around us all the time and it is just a physical ability. For example, while

you are at home, you might hear the sound of other people talking, sound of cooking in the

kitchen, sound of television, and sound of anything that is happening around. While you are at

work, depending on where you work, you hear the sound of various things around you. While on

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the road you hear the sound of traffic and any events in the public, the people laughing, talking,

shouting etc. And, at the end of the day, after you go to bed and fall asleep, you hear sounds even

while you sleep. All these happen around you and you do not

sound waves

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necessarily see the incidents. It is just

operates even outside of the line of sight.reaching your ears. Hearing is an w

hich

This also applies to music. Nowadays music is played everywhere, in shopping malls, in

restaurants, in supermarkets, in offices and everywhere. It puts people in a situation where they

just hear this music as every other noise around them. Not all of us listen to that music and

acquire anything from it. People lose the chance of acquiring any skills from it and in a way it

devalues music. Most people use music to just fill the silence while they are doing other tasks.

Listening:

When you need to listen, you need to pay attention, because you need to interpret and respond in

the end. Listening is a skill which is diminishing and this can be due to advancement in digital

technology, not wanting to concentrate or too much of information to handle. Listening is a skill

that can be improved with a little bit of hard work, dedication and determination. Everywhere and

in every relationship we come across this complaining phrase quite often, “You never listen” or

“You do not want to listen”. As Ernest Hemingway quotes, “When people talk, listen completely.

Most people never listen.”

A typical example that we come across in our day to day life is, people reading something on the

internet and responding to the speaker / trying to listen to someone, or typing something on the

computer, eyes on the screen and an ear listening to the other person or texting on the mobile

and responding to someone who is talking to you. These are common scenarios we come across in

offices and personal lives almost every day. These behaviours clearly indicate that the listener is

behaving in an awful manner, not respecting the other and indirectly this tells the speaker that

they are less important than the work that the listener is doing. This puts the speaker in an awful

situation and makes them feel inferior

alarm system

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Hearing Vs Listening - A Summary

Hearing Listening

It is a physical ability and not a conscious act It is a skill and is a conscious act (Psychological)

Hearing Listening

(Physiological)

Is hearing randomly Is listening intentionally and analysing

Everyone hears unless there is a physical disability Not everyone listens

Perceiving sound by the earMaking an effort to hear and it involves

reception, analysis, interpretation and response

Involuntary Voluntary

You just hear sound and noise but do not

understand much You understand what is being said or heard

Does not need focus Needs focus and care

Hearing uses only one of the five senses which is

hearingListening uses hearing, seeing and

sometimes the sense of touch too

Receiving sound vibrationsObserving the behaviour and adding meaning to

what the speaker says

Passive Active

The only similarity between hearing and listening is that you do both with the aid of ears.

Listening is very important when it comes to customer services and other professions where you

have to listen to people at all times, for example doctors, nurses, occupational therapists,

counselors journalists,

interviewers, teachers, tutors, advisers etc. Almost all professions require at some point or

the other. In an office and home environment, we are most of the time around people who want to

be listened. So it is always good to improve your listening skills and be a better listener and a better

human.

listening skills

Perception:

The way in which something is regarded, understood, or interpreted.

A process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give

meaning to their environment.

Factors Influencing Perception

· The Perceiver – attitudes, motives, interests, experiences, expectations

· The Target – novelty, motions, sounds, size, background, proximity, similarity

· The Situation – time, work setting, social situation

Assessing others perceptions

Attribution Theory When individuals observe behavior, they attempt to determine whether it is

internally (under the personal control of the individual) or externally (outside causes “force” you

to behave a certain way) caused.

Fundamental Attribution Error The tendency to underestimate the influence of external factors

and overestimate the influence of internal factors when making judgments about the behavior of

others.

Self-Serving Bias The tendency for individuals to attribute their own successes to internal factors

while putting the blame for failures on external factors.

characteristics of good and bad listeners:

Appreciates all parts of what is being said.

Concentrates / pays attention.

Takes brief notes that are to the point, if

needed. Is open to the ideas presented.

Holds eye contact and has good body

posture. Responds to the speakers' tone

and inflections. Uses eye contact

appropriately.

patient

Is attentive and alert to a speaker's verbal and nonverbal behavior.

Is and doesn't interrupt (waits for the speaker to finish).

Is responsive, using verbal and nonverbal expressions.

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Asks questions in a no tone.

Paraphrases, restates or summarizes what the speaker

says. Provides constructive (verbal or nonverbal)

feedback.

Is empathic (works to understand the

speaker). Shows interest in the speaker as a

person.

Demonstrates a caring attitude and is willing to listen.

Doesn't criticize, is nonjudgmental.

Is open-minded.

Characteristics of a Poor Listener:

Has a wandering mind /

gaze. Show no

enthusiasm.

Slumps

Likes to argue the point.

Takes too many notes thus missing the

point. Is easily distracted.

Interrupts the speaker (is impatient).

Doesn't give eye contact (eyes

wander).

Is distracted (fidgeting) and does not pay attention to the speaker.

Is not interested in the speaker (doesn't care;

daydreaming). Gives the speaker little or no (verbal or

nonverbal) feedback. Changes the subject.

Is judgmental.

Is closed-minded.

Talks too much.

Is self-preoccupied.

threatening

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Gives unwanted

advice. Too busy to

listen.

Types of listening

Here are six types of listening, starting with basic discrimination of sounds and ending in deep

communication.

Discriminative listening

Discriminative listening is the most basic type of listening, whereby the difference between

difference sounds is identified. If you cannot hear differences, then you cannot make sense of

the meaning that is expressed by such differences.

We learn to discriminate between sounds within our own language early, and later are unable to

discriminate between the phonemes of other languages. This is one reason why a person from one

country finds it difficult to speak another language perfectly, as they are unable distinguish the

subtle sounds that are required in that language.

Likewise, a person who cannot hear the subtleties of emotional variation in another person's voice

will be less likely to be able to discern the emotions the other person is experiencing.

Listening is a visual as well as auditory act, as we communicate much through body language . We

thus also need to be able to discriminate between muscle and skeletal movements that signify

different meanings.

Comprehension listening

The next step beyond discriminating between different sound and sights is to make sense of them.

To comprehend the meaning requires first having a lexicon of words at our fingertips and also all

rules of grammar and syntax by which we can understand what others are saying.

The same is true, of course, for the visual components of communication, and an understanding of

body language helps us understand what the other person is really meaning.

In communication, some words are more important and some less so, and comprehension often

benefits from extraction of key facts and items from a long spiel.

Comprehension listening is also known as content listening, informative listening and full listening.

Critical listening

Critical listening is listening in order to evaluate and judge, forming opinion about what is being

said. Judgment includes assessing strengths and weaknesses, agreement and approval.

This form of listening requires significant real-time cognitive effort as the listener analyzes what is

being said, relating it to existing knowledge and rules, whilst simultaneously listening to the

ongoing words from the speaker.

Biased listening

Biased listening happens when the person hears only what they want to hear, typically

misinterpreting what the other person says based on the stereotypes and other biases that they

have. Such biased listening is often very evaluative in nature.

Evaluative listening

In evaluative listening, or critical listening, we make judgments about what the other person is

saying. We seek to assess the truth of what is being said. We also judge what they say against

ourvalues, assessing them as good or bad, worthy or unworthy.

Evaluative listening is particularly pertinent when the other person is trying to persuade us, perhaps

to change our behavior and maybe even to change our beliefs. Within this, we also discriminate

between subtleties of language and comprehend the inner meaning of what is said. Typically also

we weigh up the pros and cons of an argument, determining whether it makes sense logically as

well as whether it is helpful to us.

Evaluative listening is also called critical, judgmental or interpretive listening.

Appreciative listening

In appreciative listening, we seek certain information which will appreciate, for example that which

helps meet our needs and goals. We use appreciative listening when we are listening to good music,

poetry or maybe even the stirring words of a great leader.

Sympathetic listening

In sympathetic listening we care about the other person and show this concern in the way we pay

close attention and express our sorrow for their ills and happiness at their joys.

Empathetic listening

When we listen empathetically, we go beyond sympathy to seek a truer understand how others are

feeling. This requires excellent discrimination and close attention to the nuances of emotional

signals. When we are being truly empathetic, we actually feel what they are feeling.

In order to get others to expose these deep parts of themselves to us, we also need to demonstrate

our empathy in our demeanor towards them, asking sensitively and in a way that encourages self-

disclosure.

Therapeutic listening

In therapeutic listening, the listener has a purpose of not only empathizing with the speaker but

also to use this deep connection in order to help the speaker understand, change or develop in

some way.

This not only happens when you go to see a therapist but also in many social situations, where

friends and family seek to both diagnose problems from listening and also to help the speaker cure

themselves, perhaps by some cathartic process. This also happens in work situations, where

managers, HR people, trainers and coaches seek to help employees learn and develop.

Dialogic listening

The word 'dialogue' stems from the Greek words 'dia', meaning 'through' and 'logos' meaning

'words'. Thus dialogic listening mean learning through conversation and an engaged interchange of

ideas and information in which we actively seek to learn more about the person and how they

think.

Dialogic listening is sometimes known as 'relational listening'.

Relationship listening

Sometimes the most important factor in listening is in order to develop or sustain a relationship.

This is why lovers talk for hours and attend closely to what each other has to say when the same

words from someone else would seem to be rather boring.

Relationship listening is also important in areas such as negotiation and sales, where it is helpful if

the other person likes you and trusts you.

Energy - physical and mental

Perhaps all people have two types of energy–mental and physical–and they‟re not interchangeable.

Think about people who are introverted versus extroverted. You can try to force yourself to be

your opposite, but you will be unhappy doing do, and the longer you do it, the more likely you

are to end up depressed.

Some people have excessive amounts of physical energy. They‟re known as “hyperactive.” Some

people have excessive amounts of mental energy. We tend to be called “lazy.” Most everyone

else has a balance between the two (“average”), although some people have excessive amounts

of both (Benjamin

Franklin comes to mind); these people with endless ideas and the energy to accomplish them are

called “geniuses.” (Of course, it‟s possible to be a genius with only one type of energy, but most of

the people who truly become epic and go down in history have huge amounts of both.)

the number of people who have almost unlimited amounts of both physical and mental energy are a rarity

Situational knowledge?

I define situational knowledge as the knowledge you have for the duration of a project or release,

but which you‟ll probably let fade after six months (or less). Maybe it won‟t fade, but it won‟t be

as far to the front of your brain as newer knowledge you pick up.

Verbal and non verbal skills:

Nonverbal Communication

Oculesics is one form of nonverbal communication , which is the transmission and reception of

meaning between communicators without the use of words. It can include the environment

around the communicators, the physical attributes or characteristics of the communicators, and

the behavior of the communicators.

The four nonverbal communication cues are spatial, temporal, visual and vocal. Each relates to one

or more forms of nonverbal communication

Chronemics - the study of time

Haptics - the study of touch

Kinesics - the study of movement

Oculesics - the study of eye behavior

Olfactics - the study of scent

Paralanguage - the study of voice communication

Proxemics - the study of spaceoutside of languageProxemics

the branch of knowledge that deals with the amount of space that people feel it necessary to set

between themselves and others.

Proxemics is a subcategory of the study of nonverbal communication along with haptics (touch),

kinesics (body movement), vocalics (paralanguage), and chronemics (structure of time). [1]

Proxemics can be defined as "the interrelated observations and theories of man's use of space as a

specialized elaboration of culture".[2]

Types of Proxemics

Intimate – 0 to 10 inches – Reserved for close friends and family

Personal – 18 inches to 4 feet – For friends and informal conversation

Social – 4 to 12 feet – An area for formal conversation and business transactions

Public – beyond 12 feet

In the United States, there are four types of “distance” which people use to communicate on a

face-to- face basis.

These include:

Intimate distance (0-2 ft.) Personal distance (2-4ft.) Social distance (4-12 ft.) Public distance (>12 ft.)

Intimate distance is that which is used for very confidential communications. This zone of distance is

characterized by 0 to 2 feet of space between two individuals. An example of intimate distance is

two people hugging, holding hands, or standing side-by-side. People in intimate distance share a

unique level of comfort with one another. Those who are not comfortable with someone who

approaches them in the intimate zone will experience a great deal of social discomfort or

awkwardness.

Personal distance is used for talking with family and close friends. Although it gives a person a little

more space than intimate distance, it is still very close in proximity to that of intimacy, and may

involve touching. Personal distance can range from 2 to 4 feet. Like intimate distance, if a stranger

approaches someone in the personal zone, he or she is likely to feel uncomfortable being in such

close proximity with the stranger.

Social distance is used in business transactions, meeting new people and interacting with groups of

people. Social distance has a large range in the distance that it can incorporate. From 4 to 12 feet,

it is clear that social distance depends on the situation. Social distance may be used among

students, co-workers, or acquaintances. Generally, people within social distance do not engage in

physical contact with one another.

People may be very particular about the amount of social distance that is preferred. Some

people may require much more physical distance than others. Many times, if a person comes

too close to another individual, the individual is likely to back up and give himself the amount of

space that he feels more comfortable in.

Public distance is measured at 12 or more feet between persons. An example of this is illustrated in

the following picture, where two men sit far apart on a park bench, in order to preserve their

public distance. Each of the previous types of proximity are heavily influence by people's

perception of what the "correct" type of distance should be in a certain situation.

Culture is one of the factors which contribute to people's perceptions of how proxemics should be

used. People from different cultures have different views on what the proper personal space

should be. For further information, please see the proxemics and culture page to learn more about

how culture affects people's spatial preferences

Territoriality

There are four forms of human territory in proxemic theory. They are:

public territory

a place where one may freely enter. This type of territory is rarely in the constant control of just

one person. However, people might come to temporarily own areas of public territory.

interactional territory

a place where people congregate informally

home territory

a place where people continuously have control over their individual territory

body territory

the space immediately surrounding us

These different levels of territory, in addition to factors involving personal space, suggest ways for

us to communicate and produce expectations of appropriate behavior

Environmental factors:

The setting in which you try to communicate to a person can play an important role in how effective

your communication is. Things such as outside noise or distractions that take away your audience's

attention can limit the amount of information he actually retains. Obstacles that remove your

direct line of vision with a person or his vision with a visual presentation also can affect the way he

retains information.

There are several environmental factors that can enhance or detract from communication. Some of

the barriers to effective communication include echoes, long distance barriers, noise, poor lighting,

and visual noise.

Poor lighting takes away visual cues and body language that many people need, especially people

who may be hard of hearing. Any visual displays cannot be seen well in poor lighting conditions

taking even more away from the communications process. Noise is another environmental factor

that adversely effects communication. The noise can be traffic noise outside an office or place of

business which blends into what is called white noise, or the noise of an annoying co-worker

talking on their cell phone to a family member. Noise is simply anything that can be heard that is

distracting and takes attention away from the intended communications.

Long distance can detract from effective communications in that it takes longer for verbal

communication to reach its target and sometimes visual cues and body language are taken out of

the equation. Technology has improved phone service to the public over the past few decades

where communication via voice is now reliable to anywhere in the world, but without visual clues

and body language the communication process is not at an optimum.

Visual noise can refer to anything that is distracting in a visual manner such as traffic going by

outside an office window or a fight between co-workers. Once a person becomes interested in

something other than the person talking to them, the communication process stops.

The key to effective communications is to recognize and eliminate all or as much of these

environmental factors that take away from the communications process. While there may be some

factors that you cannot control, the fact is there are many of them you can and should eliminate.

Communication competence:

Defn: the ability to use the language correctly and appropriately to accomplish communication goals.

Communicative competence is made up of four competence areas: linguistic, sociolinguistic,

discourse, and strategic.

Linguistic competence is knowing how to use the grammar, syntax, and vocabulary of a

language. Linguistic competence asks: What words do I use? How do I put them into

phrases and sentences?

Sociolinguistic competence is knowing how to use and respond to language appropriately,

given the setting, the topic, and the relationships among the people communicating.

Sociolinguistic competence asks: Which words and phrases fit this setting and this topic?

How can I express a specific attitude (courtesy, authority, friendliness, respect) when I need

to? How do I know what attitude another person is expressing?

Discourse competence is knowing how to interpret the larger context and how to construct

longer stretches of language so that the parts make up a coherent whole. Discourse

competence asks: How are words, phrases and sentences put together to create

conversations, speeches, email messages, newspaper articles?

Strategic competence is knowing how to recognize and repair communication

breakdowns, how to work around gaps in one‟s knowledge of the language, and how to

learn more about the language and in the context. Strategic competence asks: How do I

know when I‟ve misunderstood or when someone has misunderstood me? What do I say

then? How can I express my ideas if I don‟t know the name of something or the right verb

form to use?

In the early stages of language learning, instructors and students may want to keep in mind the goal

of communicative efficiency: That learners should be able to make themselves understood, using

their current proficiency to the fullest. They should try to avoid confusion in the message (due to

faulty pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary); to avoid offending communication partners (due to

socially inappropriate style); and to use strategies for recognizing and managing communication

breakdowns.

social

Chronemics:

Chronemics studies time usage in nonverbal communication; it states that the way we perceive

time is a powerful communication tool. How we perceive time can be expressed by our

punctuality, our willingness to wait, the speed of our speech, and the amount of time people are

willing to listen.

Chronemics is how we perceive time and how it can define the importance of someone or

something. Some people are very important and only have the time to see people through

appointments and in that instance, his time shows how important he is. Timing is very important

when either calling in an an appointement or responding to a letter or e-mail because timing leads

to expectations and could possibly influence the communication that will occur when you are face-

to-face. Chronemics varies greatly from culture to culture and they are based upon monochronic

and polychronic. America is a monochronic country which means that time is viewed as a

commodity, it is scheduled, managed, and arracnged. Many spanish speaking cultures are

polychronic which means they do several things at the same time. They will break appointments and

meetings if their family needs them without any guilt or an apology.

Jargon: The specialized language of a professional, occupational, or other group, often meaningless

to outsiders

Jargon is "the technical terminology or characteristic idiom of a special activity occupational or

group."[1] The philosopher Condillac observed in 1782 that "every science requires a special

language because every science has its own ideas." As a rationalist member of the

Enlightenment he continued, "It

seems that one ought to begin by composing this language, but people begin by speaking and

writing, and the language remains to be composed."[2] In earlier times, the term jargon would

refer to trade languages used by people who spoke different native tongues to communicate,

such as the Chinook Jargon.

In other words, the term covers the language used by people who work in a particular area or who

have a common interest. Much likeslang , [3] it can develop as a kind of shorthand, to express ideas

that are frequently discussed between members of a group, though it can also be developed

deliberately using chosen terms. A standard term may be given a more precise or unique usage

among practitioners of a field. In many cases this causes a barrier to communication with those not

familiar with the language of the field. For example, bit , byte , and hexadecimal are jargon terms

related to computing .

Paralanguage:

Paralanguage is nonverbal communication such as your tone, pitch or manner of speaking.

An example of paralanguage is the pitch of your voice.

The set of nonphonemic properties of speech, such as speaking tempo, vocal pitch, and

intonational contours, that can be used to communicate attitudes or other shades of meaning.

You may have heard someone say, 'It's not what he said, it's the way he said it."

Inflection can have an effect on the impact of a message; and while inflection is applied to words, it

is a nonverbal treatment which can completely change the meaning a person would be expected

to attach to the words. Inflections or emphasis applied vocally to a message are known as

paralanguage.

Paralanguage sounds just the opposite from the words themselves. Someone may have greeted you with a

"good morning!" but the tone of the words revealed that it was anything but a good morning.

Paralanguage or vocalics is a part of non-verbal communication because it is not related to the

content or verbal message but the other attributes of speaking which include the pitch, the tone,

the volume, tempo, rhythm, articulation, resonance, nasality and even the accent of the speaker

collectively known as prosody. Paralanguage is thus the study of nonverbal cues of the voice. A

notable linguist George L. Trager developed a classification system to study the vocal cues, which

consist of the voice set, voice qualities, and vocalization.

Voice Set: The voice set is defined as the context in which the speaker is speaking. The factors that

influence this context are taken into account, which include elements like the situation, gender,

mood, age or even a person's cultural background.

The Voice Qualities: The voice quality is defined by factors like volume, pitch, tempo, rhythm,

articulation, resonance, nasality, and accent. These factors actually give each individual a unique

'voice print'.

Vocalization: This factor takes into account three elements: characterizers, qualifiers and

segregators. Characterizes are emotions that are expressed while speaking like smiling, frowning or

yawning. A voice qualifier refers to the style of delivering a message. Vo

Ocuselics:

Oculesics, a subcategory of kinesics, is the study of eye movement, eye behavior, gaze, and

eye- related nonverbal communication. The specific definition varies depending on whether it

applies to the fields of medicine or social science

Eyes are perhaps the most expressive features on human beings. You can say so much from one

look that you exchange, be it a positive one or a condescending look, the eyes say it all. Oculesics is

the study of the role of eyes in nonverbal communication. Eye contact can indicate a lot of

emotions ranging from interest, attention, and involvement. A simple gaze comprises the actions of

looking while talking, while listening, or even while observing. Other factors that can be studied to

correlate them with the purpose of communication is the timing of one's gaze, frequency of

glances, patterns of fixation, pupil dilation, and even the rate of blinkling.

Eye contact indicates interest, opennesss, and sometimes even arousal, though aggressive eye

contact--or staring--can be interpreted as a sign of hostility. In addition to this, lack of eye

contact also transmits a message, oftentimes that the listener is bored and/or is not paying

attention. It must be noted that culture plays a role in oculesics, for the necessity of eye contact

and the civility it provides in American culture differs greatly from an Asian culture, for example,

where eye contact is often considered rude

Haptics:

Haptics refers to the study of touching as a tool of nonverbal communication. The various forms of

touching that can be included in non-verbal communication includes handshakes, holding hands,

kissing, back patting, high fives or even brushing an arm. Also someone fidgeting with their own

hands, or running their fingers through their hair is also involuntarily sending a message about their

level of involvement and interest in the communication process and are referred to as "adaptors".

The meaning conveyed from a touch is however highly dependent upon several other factors like

the context of the situation or even the relationship between communicators.

Kinesics:

Kinesics is the study of body movement, facial expressions, and gestures. Five kinds of kinesics are

used in our everyday communication. These five are emblems, illustrators, affect displays,

regulators and adaptors. Developed by anthropologist Ray L. Birdwhistell in the 1950s, Kinesics is

nothing but the study of body movements, facial expressions, and gestures. Kinesics studies include

the study of following elements:

Posture: Body posture says a lot about a person's degree of attention or involvement, the

difference in status between communicators, and also the level of fondness a person has for the

other one. The studies carried out int the field of kinesics reveal that mirror-image congruent

postures, where one person's left side is parallel to the other's right side, leads to favorable

perception of communicators and positive speech. Also, if a person leans forward or a shows a

decrease in the backwards lean, it signifies positive sentiment during communication. Posture can

be studied through various indicators like direction of lean, body orientation, arm position, and

overall body movement.

Gestures: A thumbs up, or a simple wave of the hand says so much. Yes, gestures form an integral

part of non-verbal communication. Gestures allow us to express a variety of emotions and

thoughts like contempt, hostility, approval, affection etc.

Kinesics is the non-verbal behavior related to movement, either of any part of the body, or the body

as a whole. All body movements that show what the person is really thinking can be classified as

kinesic.

Kinesic communication is one of the obvious forms of non-verbal communication and is the most

talked about but it can also be one of the most confusing because there can be so many different

meanings among different cultures. Some movements could be offensive to other cultures or some

movements may just have no meaning to some and they will not now what you are portraying and

there will be confusion. Body language differs between every culture and therefore is almost

impossible to have a worldly known movement. Kinesics can be broken down into five categories:

emblems, illustrators, affect displays, regulators and adaptors.

Emblems

Non-verbal messages that have a verbal counterpart. To show you what that means the British use

a sign for victory. That sign is holding up the forefinger and the middle finger to create a V for

victory but in the U.S. we might see that more as a number 2 and in Australia that could be

insulting. Making the O sign for “ok” can also be seen as the number zero meaning that whatever

they were trying or doing was worthless. Even though there are endless meanings and to all the

movements of body language we can still identify with what was intended because a lot of

movements are known throughout the world and even though that may not be their custom they

will might understand that it was not intended the way they took it.

Illustrators

Illustrators are used more consistently to illustrate what is being said and the amount of different

uses or meanings they may have are endless. Like in Latin cultures they use illustrators more then

they do in Anglo- Saxon cultures and if you don't use them they consider that a lack of interest and

Anglo-Saxon cultures use illustrators more then Asian cultures. Asian cultures consider using

illustrators a lack of intelligence.

Affective Displays

Affective Displays are facial movements that show a certain emotional state. The basic displays are

mostly universal because everyone knows them like sadness, happiness, scared but the amount that

it is used can vary drastically from culture to culture. Some may think that if you don't use affective

displays then you lack emotion but that is not true. Take an Italian, they normally show their anger

more in situations and a Japanese person who may show anger just as much. In Italy you can

express those displays of emotion but in Japan you might be expected to not show as many

affective displays because of the way their culture is.

Regulators

Regulators are non-verbal signs that regulate, modulate and maintain the flow of speech during a

conversation. These can be both kinesic, such as the nodding of a head, as well as nonkinesic, such

as eye movements. Regulators moderate the flow of information, and are frequently used to see if

the person they are talking too has understood the message. Vargas (1986) notes, that black

students in the US felt insulted, because they perceived that they were being talked down to by

their white educators. She concluded that black students made different use of regulators and that

therefore the white educators were under the impression that the black student did not

understand what was being said to them. Whereas the white students would nod an murmur “uh-

huh”, black students in the research appeared to nod less perceivably and use “mhm” as a

regulator utterance. Regulators are vital to the flow of information. Therefore a

misinterpreted regulatory non-verbal sign may be highly confusing in international business

communication, and lead to serious problems, such as the problem shown above.

Adaptors

Adaptors include postural changes and other movements at a low level of awareness, frequently

made to feel more comfortable or to perform a specific physical function. Because adaptors are

usually carried out on a low level of awareness, they have been hailed as the secret to

understanding what your conversation partner really thinks. Many adaptor movements, such as

moving in a chair, may be employed more frequently to resolve a specific physical situation, rather

than being an indicator of „secret thoughts'. So it's hard to tell whether it's a secret thought or if its

just getting physically comfortable. Adaptors as such may not carry any significant meaning, neither

in their own culture nor across cultural boundaries. However, adaptors may easily be read as

emblems across cultural borders, even if not intended. As adaptors are usually performed with a

low level of awareness, such a misinterpretation can be highly significant precisely because the

person performing the adaptor movement may not be aware that he is performing any precise

movement. For example, the showing of the soles of the feet or shoe may be a result of taking up a

more relaxed seating position. However, in many Arabic countries this gesture may be understood

as an offensive emblem.

Emblems are body movements that substitute for words and phrases. We beckon with are first

finger to mean “come here.” We use an open hand heldup to mean “stop.” However, be wary of

emblems; they may mean something different in a different culture.

In much of the world today, the thumbs up means, "O.K.", "Right On!", or "I like this movie.” But in

Iran, Afghanistan, Nigeria and parts of Italy and Greece it is an obscene insult, especially when

combined with a sweep of the arms.

The second form of kinesics, illustrators, accompany and reinforce our verbal messages. For

example, we nod our head when we say yes, shake our head when we say no, stroke our stomach

when we are hungry, and shake our fists when we are angry.

Illustrators tend to be more universal than other kinds of body movement. However, they can also

be misinterpreted. Even men and women regard the simple nod differently. Many women may

think a man is agreeing when he nods his head as she speaks, but actually all he is say is “I hear

you.” When they get into a meeting together and she finds him speaking out against her idea, she

may be surprised and angry, because she thought she had his support.

The third kind of kinesics is affect displays. Affect displays are movements of the face and body

which show emotion. Consider how you react when your favorite team scores, or watch your angry

teenager slam the door as she leaves the room, and look at two men threaten each other when

they are upset but don‟t dare to fight openly.

Regulators are the fourth category of kinesics. They control the flow and pace of our

communication. When we start to move away, it is a signal that we want the communication to

stop. When we look away or at the floor it shows we may be disinterested. When we yawn we are

bored or maybe just tired.

There is a whole area of study that deals with turntaking, the use of regulators to let someone know

when we want to speak, when we want them to speak, or when we don‟t want to speak. When we

want to speak, maybe we raise a finger or lift our head. When we want to let the other person

speak, we pause and look away. When we don‟t want to speak, we may nod or raise a hand. It‟s a

real science, but somehow we learn all these skills without ever taking a lesson.

The final area of kinesics is adaptors. We use adaptors to relieve tension. We tap the desk, or twist

our hair. We shake our legs or rub our nose. Sometimes these are nervous habits. Others are

involuntary ticks. I found out when I stayed with an uncle that we shared some common adaptors.

He covered his mouth with a finger when he spoke, something I also did, but didn‟t notice my

father doing. Yet obviously, I must have learned it from my father.

How does it help to know about kinesics? Understanding nonverbal communication can

help us communicate better. We avoid misunderstandings. We are clearer in the

meanings we transmit.

Refer: http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/ruchi1988-1101620-non-verbal-communication/

Message strategies

What are your main messages? A message is not the same as an advertising slogan or a marketing

line; a message is a simple and clear idea that summarises the essence of your programme or

projects. It should function as a guiding principle for all kinds of communications, from the contents

of leaflets, brochures and websites, but also for media interviews or conversations with your

stakeholders.

The main point is that messages must be clear and consistent across all kinds of communications.

The best would is to apply the KISS-rule: Keep it short and simple! Without clear messages, a

communication agenda lacks clarity and focus and your agenda risks becoming diluted. Too many

different messages will breed confusion.

Start by deciding your programme‟s message – a sentence that states clearly and simply what your

programme is trying to do. Try to avoid too general issues and focus on a specific

achievement/challenge/opportunity. It is recommendable to constantly communicate the messages

to your promotional material target groups, for example by including them on your releases and so

forth.

Voice is hopeful, or hopeless, and there is very little commitment to the asking. Often the outcome

is not forthcoming A demand has limited choice. You either do what is demanded, or you don't.

There is little availability for negotiation. People build resentment when they believe there is a

demand on them When we make a request, we are creating choice. For example, if I throw you a

tennis ball and I request that you throw it back to me, what are your options? The request

empowers the person that you are making the request to.

They have choices. (Don't make a request unless you want the person to have choices, and you

would be completely satisfied if their response was no)

Making and responding to a request It's important to be polite when you ask for something.You

can make a request by using:

can you ...?

could you ...?

will you ...?

would you mind ...?

Here are some examples of how to make a request..

Can you Will you

Could you possiblyopen the door for me, please?

would you mind opening the door for me ?

Making Request:

Can you show me your photo album, please?

Will you lend me your book, please?

Could you possibly show me the way to the post office, please?

Would you help me with this exercise, please?

Would you mind lending me your pen, please?

Responding to request: Sure here you are.

Okey.

No, I'm sorry I need it

I'm afraid I can't.

Things to remember about making a request:

1. "Would you mind..." is followed by a

gerund (verb+ing) Example:"Would you mind

lending me your book? "

2. The response to the following request:

A: "Would you mind giving me your book? "

is either

"No, I don't mind."(which is a positive response to the request. It means that I accept

to lend you my book)

or "Yes." (which is a negative response to the request. It means that I don't want to lend you my

book.)

3. Could is more polite than can.

Giving Better Directions

If you‟re a boss, one of the most important parts of your job is giving directions. Whether you‟re

training, coaching, or assigning work, it‟s critical to do the job right.

If you think about what you do when you sharetravel directions, you‟ll do a better job with

supervisory directions. Here are some tips to remind you of what works.

Choose your words carefully. Use the language that works best for your team member and what they

prefer.

Some people prefer left/right directions. Others would rather have North/South. Some like

distances in miles, but others prefer “about thirty minutes.” Sometimes the situation or location

calls for special language. My friend Rosa Say tells me that on Oahu, “mauka” m eans “tow ard

the mount ains,” whil e “makai” me ans “towa rd t he oce an.”

And there are local usages for travel directions. If you go “to the city,” it might be San FranciscoOr London. And, in New York City, “the city” is the island of Manhattan. You find the same kind of special language at some companies or in some industries.Supplement your words if you can. Words are good, but if you can supplement them with diagrams

(maps) or demonstrations, you‟re more likely to be effective. Act things out. Give examples.

Use a variety of methods. I love my GPS, but I always work things out on a map before I travel to

someplace new.

Some people prefer to receive directions aurally. Others prefer them written out. Still others want something they can refer to if they find they don‟t understand.Check for understanding. If you don‟t check, you assume that you communicated perfectly. That‟s just not likely. Follow up to be sure. Even if your team member understood perfectly when you give your directions the first time, it may not last. It‟s just the way humans work that we can think we understand until it‟s time to actually follow the instructions. Couple that with the fact that you, the boss, can‟t possibly think of every team members detail and you have a recipe for confusion.

Some will be reluctant to tell you that understanding has turned to confusion, so you have to

go and check. Part of your job is regularly touching base with your people, so use some of that time

to see if your directions are working out the way you and your team member expected. Then adjust

as needed.