corporate governance-lecture 01

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UNIT 1

CHAPTER 1: NATURE OF

COMMUNICATIONLESSON 1:

INTRODUCTION TO BUSINESS

COMMUNICATION

On completion of this lesson you will understand

• W hat is communication?

• H ow important it is in context of business organiz ations?

• H ow communication process works?

“Communication” is a p rocess — an activity that serves to

connect senders and receivers of messages through space

and time. Although human beings tend to be interested

primarily in the study of human communication, the process is

present in all living things and, it can be argued, in all things.

From this we may conclude that communication is a funda-

mental, universal process.

How often have you heard statements such as these?

• If you want to be promoted, you’ll have to improve your

communication skills.• One of the strengths of our relationship over the years has

been that we communicate so well - in fact, usually I know

what she’s thinking before she tells me!

• The lightening storm knocked out our communication

systems, and since then we haven’t handled a single

customer call.

• He’s really smart, and he knows his stuff, but as a teacher he

just doesn’t communicate it very well.

• They say they built the product to meet our specifications,

but it’s not what we asked for - I think we have a

communication problem here.

The word “communicate” derives from the word “common” -to share, exchange, send along, transmit, talk, gesture, write, put

in use, relate. So an investigation of this subject might begin

with the question: What do all studies of communication have

in common? What are the shared concepts that make the study

of “communication” different from the study of subjects such

as “thought” or “literature” or “life?” When someone says,

“this is a communication problem,” what does that mean?

When a baby sees his mother’s face for the first time, communi-

cation happens. When someone steps out onto a beach in Goa

and water touches his feet communication happens. When the

Indian parliament passes a new bill to curb monopolies in the

market and the President signs, communication happens.

When a computer in Delhi calls up a computer in Tokyo and

transmits a message, communication happens.

Communication is a general phenomenon. It occurs in nature,

wherever life exists. Whether we recognize it or not, we have no

choice but to communicate. If we try to avoid communicating

by not replying to messages, we are nevertheless sending a

message, but it may not be the one we want or intend. When

we don’t say yes, we may be saying no by default – and vice

versa. The only choice we can make about communication is

whether we are going to attempt to communicate effectively.

What do we mean by communicating effectively? The object of

communication is to convey thoughts/ intentions/ emotions/

facts/ ideas of one person or group to the others. When the

message sent is received and understood by the receiver in thesame sense , as the sender wants to convey ,effective communi-

cation takes place. When the receiver misunderstands a message

we consider it a distortion in communication. Throughout our

study, we would try to improve our communication skills so

that we can make ourselves better understood in our communi-

cations.

The fact is that we spend so much of our time communicating;

we tend to assume that we are experts. Surveys indicate that

when business professionals are asked to rate their communica-

tion skills, virtually everyone overestimates his or her abilities as

a communicator. There is a natural tendency to blame the other

person for the problems in understanding or making ourselvesunderstood. The better option is to improve one’s own

communication. One has to be always on a look to identify his

weak points as a communicator and strive to overcome them.

This needs a thorough understanding of meaning and process

of communication.

M e a n in g o f Co m m u n i ca t io nCommunication is derived from the Latin word communis,

which means, “ to share” that is, sharing of ideas, concepts,

feelings and emotions. The science of communication is almost

as old as man himself. Form time immemorial; the need to

share or to communicate had been felt. Different vehicles /

channels were identified and subsequently improvised for the

purpose of transmission of ideas and concepts. A study of

these channels enables us to gain an insight into the process of

communication.

Before a definition of communication is arrived at, a few

queries, which arise in the minds of the readers, have to be

answered. What is the importance of communication? Why

should it be studied? Why should the channel be analyzed and

examined?

The importance of communication can be gauged from the fact

that we are communicating in some from or the other almost

every moment of our lives. Whether we are walking,, talking

,playing, sitting, or even sleeping, a message is being formulated

and transmitted. Man, who is a social animal, is constantlyinteracting with other individuals. For him it is necessary to

understand the art of communication and apply or modify it in

a suitable manner. Man possesses the ability to communicate,

which is much more than a composition of certain symbolize

or to understand concepts in terms of images or symbols. It is

this ability that helps him to communicate. Communication

then, it may be stated, is much more than an understanding of

the spoken or written language. It is a composite of symbols,



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gestures, and illustrations that accompany either the spoken or

the written word.

Ba s i c P u r p o s e o f Co m m u n i ca t io nPeople in organizations typically spend over 75% of their time in

an interpersonal situation; thus it is no surprise to find that at the

root of a large number of organizational problems is poor

communications. Effective communication is an essential compo-

nent of organizational success whether it is at the interpersonal,

intergroup, intragroup, organizational, or external levels.

“What is the purpose of (formal) communication?” A

response to a query of this nature would be more beneficial if

attempts were made to understand the business situation

where success or failure of issues is always measured in terms

of man- hours spent in the completion of a task. Let us take an

example. Suppose the boss issues instructions to his subordi-

nate to complete a certain project in a particular manner within a

stipulated timeframe. The subordinate does it to the best of his

ability. However, the end result is a miserable failure because the

manner of completion does not match with the expectations

of the boss. A lot of time has been wasted as a result of

miscommunication on the part of the two members of the

same organization. In fact, more first instance. If the amountof time used in completion of this particular task is calculated,

it would be seen that double the time necessary has been taken.

The example cited above is one of the most common and

prevailing examples of miscommunication resulting from a lack

of feedback in organizations. This, however, is not the only

criterion that qualifies for an in-depth study of communication.

Let us take a look at the communicative competence required at

three different levels in an organization.

In the business situation of a manager, as he goes higher up in

the hierarchy is to coordinate, issue instructions, collate

information, and then present it. All these activities require

effective communication skills the sooner these skills are honed,

the easier it is for the manager to accomplish tasks. Similar is the

case of the junior manager vying for a quick promotion. As

work in the organization is always done in conjunction with

other people, effective communication skills become a necessity.

Let us compare the progression of two junior managers up the

ladder of success possessing almost the same academic

qualifications and almost similar personality traits. Only one of

them would be able to make it to the managing Director’s chair.

Without doubt it would be the candidate with excellent

communication skills.

Prior to entry in any organization, certain communicative abilities

are also looked for in candidates. Ability to speak, conduct

oneself properly in an interview, get along with others, listencarefully and accurately, make effective presentations, prepare good

yet brief report, make proposals, sell ideas, convince and persuade

others are some of the attributes looked for in a candidate. If an

individual possesses these attributes looked for in a candidate. If

an individual possesses these attributes or can train himself to

excel in them, he himself would realize how much easier it is for

him only to secure a comfortable position in an organization but

also to achieve success.

A S t u d y -t o u r o f Co m m u n ica t io nThis tour presents a fundamental overview of the study of

communication with emphasis on the study of human

communication. The sections may be used in any order, though

a comprehensive study would normally begin with section

number one and consider each in the order listed below.

1. The Communication Process

Communication is a process that serves to connect senders and

receivers of messages in space and time. Although human

beings tend to be interested primarily in the study of humancommunication, the process is present in all living things and, it

can be argued, in all things. From this we may conclude that

communication is a fundamental, universal process.

2. Self Andsociety

Messages are formed in the mind of one individual andinterpreted in the mind of another. Yet the formation and

interpretation of messages are affected by the groups to which

the individuals belong. Thus, a complete understanding of

human communication must take into account both human

psychology and human social interaction.

3. Information

To receive messages human beings must make use of their

senses. However, the senses continually process large volumes

of data, not all of which are the result of communication. It is

the human ability to discern, recognize, and remember patterns

in this constant flow of data that makes meaningful communi-

cation possible.

4. Signs And Language

Some patterns of data bring to mind memories of previous

patterns. These “signs,” as they are called, can be assembled into

large, powerful patterns called “languages.” Much (though

certainly not all) of human communication is carried on

through the use of language.




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5. Interaction And Relationships

In face-to-face situations human beings cannot avoid commu-nicating with one another. This “interpersonal”

communication, which involves processes such as “speech” and

“body language,” plays an important role in the formation,

development, and dissolution of human relationships.

6. Mass Communication

Approximately five hundred years ago a new form of commu-

nication arose. This “mass” communication process, which

makes use of permanent text that can be made available to

millions of people at the same time, has quickly become an

important factor in the lives of many human beings.

7. The Communication E nvironment

Human communication takes place within, and cannot be

separated from, the complex social environments within which

all communicators must live. Systems of belief, technological

media, and the presence of cultural artifacts all affect the

communication process and contribute to the development of

the human social reality.

Communication: a system for sending and receiving messages.

An investigation of this statement will lead first to the idea of a

system, and then to the idea of messages.

S y s t e m sA “system” is typically described as a collection of parts which

are interconnected, or related to, one another and which also

relate to the environment which surrounds the system. In the

picture below, the circles and rectangles represent the parts, the

solid lines represent the relationships among the parts, and the

arrows show the system’s interaction with its environment.

To say that the elements of a system are interconnected implies

that if something happens to change one part, then at least one

other part must change, too. Naturally, as soon as that second

part changes, some other part must then change ... and so on.

This is somewhat like the effect of touching a bowl of gelatin -a single touch results in a long period of jiggling motion.

Because systems interact with their environments, they are

constantly being “touched” from the outside. This means that

most systems are constantly changing, and, because these

changes take time, a system cannot be described as having one

particular shape. It is this property that makes systems useful

for studying the kinds of situations that scholars usually refer

to as events, or processes.

The idea of a system is well illustrated by the device called a

“mobile.” The parts of this system, or objects, as they are often

called, are represented in the illustration below as “fishes.” The

relationships are established by the bars, which maintain ahorizontal spacing among the fish, and the pieces of string,

which keep the fish at certain vertical depths.

Notice that the strings and bars

• Connect every fish with every other fish,

• Allow the fish to move around quite a bit, yet confine them

to a certain area and keep them from falling apart.

This is a fine example of how a system works. If any one fish

moves, at least one other fish will react by moving, too. Thus,

the smallest breeze will keep the mobile in constant motion.



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The following quotation by Stephen Littlejohn provides a more

formal definition of the term “system” .

From the simplest perspective, a system can be said to consist

of four things.

• The first is objects. The objects are the parts, elements, or

variables of the system. These objects may be physical or

abstract or both, depending on the nature of the system.

• Second, a system consists of attributes, or the qualities or

properties of the system and its objects.

• Third, a system must possess internal relationships among

its objects. This characteristic is a crucial defining quality of

systems. A relationship among objects implies a mutual

effect (interdependence) and constraint.

• Fourth, systems also possess an environment. They do not

exist in a vacuum but are affected by their surroundings.

Clearly, the “fish” mobile meets these requirements.

It is important to do the following exercise. Thinking about

systems in this way is the most effective way to understand

them.

Consider each of the three systems named here and try to:

• Name some of the objects that make up the system,

• Name some of the relationships among the objects,

• Describe the environment of the system, and

•

Describe ways in which the system is constantly changing.Th r e e Sy s t e m sYour body’s nervous system,

The legal system of the United States,

The U. S. Interstate Highway system.

The Ro le o f Com m un ica t ionNotice that these example systems have communication in

common.

• The nervous system carries messages from the nerve endings

in our extremities to our brains and back.

• The legal system includes thousands of individuals talking

to one another, laws being read and interpreted, forms beingfilled out, and so on.

• The highway system requires constant communication

among drivers - turn signals, brake lights, and so on - and

between drivers and their vehicles - as, for example, when

you “tell” your car to turn left by pulling on the steering

wheel.

In fact, it might be said that communication is the “glue” that

holds a system together. This gives insight into the nature of

communication itself, to wit:

C o m m u n i c a t i o n C o n n e c t sBut communication is not merely passive connection. Rather,

communication is the process of connecting. It is a collection of

renewable actions that work throughout space and over time to

form relationships among objects.

Communication is not an object itself; it is not a thing, and this

leads to a second insight into the nature of communication.

C o m m u n i c a t i o n H a p p e n sThis is an important observation. It implies that communica-

tion can never fully be understand by looking only at “things.”

To understand communication, we must also look at the

relationships among the “things” and at the environments in

which the “things” reside.

For example, consider some common communication

“things”:

• A paperback copy of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol,

• A video tape of the CNN 6:00 news broadcast on May 5th,

1990,

• A written invitation to attend my sister’s wedding.

In each case the thing - the actual book, the actual video tape,

the actual invitation - is not the communication.• The communication is the process that connects the readers

of the book to the story told by the author.

• The communication is the process that connects the watchers

of the broadcast to the events of the day.

• The communication is the process that connects my sister

and I via the announcement of her wedding.

True, the book, the tape and the invitation are a part of the

communication process, but they are only a part.

There are additional observations to be drawn from these

examples.

• Communication always happens between or among - it takes

at least two to communicate.

• Communication involves an exchange - of electrical signals,

of sounds, words, pages of print, or whatever.

For ease, these exchanges among communicators will be given

the general name: messages.

Notice, for example, that each of the previous set of examples

contained sender and a receiver and a message. The book was

written by its author to be read by its audience. The video tape

was produced by one group of people to be watched by

another. And the invitation is a message sent from my sister to

me.

The idea of “messages” is considered at length in thesetutorials. At this point, however, it is appropriate to reiterate the

two basic rules that have just been uncovered:

1. Communication is a process that happens among and acts to

connect communicators through space and over time.

2. Communication involves the creation, transmission, and

reception of messages.




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Tha t ’s Ju s t Wha t I Mea n !Most problems arise because people cannot sustain

effective communicat ion. Cultivating the art of listening

helps to build bridges and enhance relationships, says

Santosh BabuAll happy families resemble one another, each

unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Thus begins Leo

Tolstoy’s epic A nna Karenina. What he meant, perhaps, is that

communication is complete when the mind is happy and

uninhibited, and distortion creeps in when the mood is sullen

and sad. Most problems in an organization, family or group arethe result of people failing to communicate. Haven’t you often

said “You don’t understand what I say” or words to that effect?

Communication is the exchange or flow of information and

ideas between one person and another. Technically, it involves a

sender passing on an idea to a receiver. Effective communication

occurs when the receiver comprehends the information or idea

that the sender intends to convey. What does a communication

process involve? You have an idea that you need to communi-

cate, and a message is sent to the receiver, either verbally or

non-verbally. The receiver then translates the words or nonver-

bal gestures into a concept or information. Let’s take, for

example, this message: “You are very intelligent.” Would this

message carry the same meaning to the receiver every time youvoice these words? The success of the transmission depends on

two factors—content and context. Content is the actual words

or symbols that constitutes a part of the message, known as

language. It could be either spoken or written. We all interpret

words in our own ways, so much so that even simple messages

could be understood differently.

Context is the way the message is delivered-the tone, expression

in the sender’s eyes, body language, hand gestures, and state of

emotion (anger, fear, uncertainty, confidence and so on). As we

believe what we see more than what we hear, we trust the

accuracy of nonverbal behavior more than verbal behavior. So

when we communicate, the other person notices two things:

What we say and how we say it. Normally we think communica-

tion is complete once we have conveyed the message: “I don’t

know why it was not done. I had asked him to do it.” Chances

are that the message was not perceived properly. A message

hasn’t been communicated successfully unless the receiver

understands it completely. How do you know it has been

properly received? By two-way communication or feedback.

C ommunica t ion B ar r i e r s Our se lvesFocusing on ourselves, rather than the other person can lead to

confusion and conflict. Often, we are thinking about our

response, rather than focusing on what the other person is

saying. Some other factors that cause this are defensiveness (we

feel someone is attacking us), superiority (we feel we knowmore than the other), and ego (we feel we are the center of the

activity). Perception: If we feel the person is talking too fast,

not fluently or does not articulate clearly, we may dismiss the

person. Our preconceived attitudes affect our ability to listen.

We listen uncritically to persons of high status and dismiss

those of low status. Mental state: People don’t see things the

same way when under stress. What we see and believe at a given

moment is influenced by our psychological frames of refer-

ences-beliefs, values, knowledge, experiences and goals. These

barriers are filters that we use to decide what is useful for us. No

one can completely avoid these filters. If you start taking every

information and message you get seriously, you would be

overloaded with information. But if you are not consciously

aware of this filtering process, you may lose a lot of valuable

information. A way to overcome these filters when you want is

through active listening and feedback.

Act ive Lis te n in gAll of us can hear, but all of us cannot listen. Hearing and

listening are not the same thing. Hearing is involuntary andlistening involves the reception and interpretation of what is

heard. It decodes the sound heard into meaning. Does a knock

on the door sound the same all the time? What if you are alone

and you hear a knock at late night? What happens when you

hear a knock while you are expecting someone whom you like?

People generally speak at 100 to 175 words per minute but we

can listen intelligently at 600 to 800 words per minute. This

means most of the time only a part of our mind is paying

attention, it is easy for the attention to drift. This happens to all

of us. The cure: active listening. This involves listening with a

purpose. It may be to gain information, obtain directions,

understand others, solve problems, share interests, see how the

other person feels, even show support. This type of listening

takes the same amount of or more energy than speaking. This

requires the listener to hear various messages, understand the

meaning and then verify the meaning by offering feedback. Here

are some of the traits of an active listener:

• Does not finish the sentence of others.

• Does not answer questions with questions.

• Is aware of biases. We all have them... we need to control

them.

• Never daydreams or becomes preoccupied with one’s own

thoughts when others talk.

•

Lets others talk.• Does not dominate the conversation.

• Plans responses after the other persons have finished

speaking, not while they are speaking.

• Provides feedback, but does not interrupt incessantly.

• Analyses by looking at all the relevant factors and asking

open-ended questions.

• Keeps the conversation on what the speaker says...not on

what interests them.

• Takes brief notes. This forces one to concentrate on what is

being said.

F e e d b a c k This is done by restating the other person’s message in your

own words. It helps to make sure that you understood the

message correctly. How much better daily communication

would be if listeners tried to understand before they tried to

evaluate what someone is saying! Let’s do a test of your

listening ability. Get a paper and pen. You have two minutes to

do this. If you take more time, you need to improve your

listening skills. Read all the instructions below before doing

anything.




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• Write your name in the top right corner of the paper

• Draw five small squares in the top left corner

• Put a circle around each square

• Put an X on the lower left-hand corner

• Draw a triangle around the X you just made

• Sign your name at the bottom of the page

• On the back of your page multiply 70 x 30

• Write the answer to the above problem adjacent to your

signature

• Check whether you have done all the above correctly Now

that you have finished reading carefully, do only the first

instruction. The author is a Delhi-based personal growth

trainer.

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